Uruguay finds no banks for the bongs

The country's legalization of the cultivation, sale and consumption of marijuana runs afoul of the U.S. Treasury

Bloomberg (US)Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Understated and simpatico, former Uruguayan president Jose Mujica isn't easily rattled. Just don't mess with his reefer. That was the message from Montevideo last week when a state-owned lender, Banco Republica, followed several private banks in shutting down accounts of clients who deposited money from marijuana sales -- a direct blow to the Mujica era's marquee policy of making Uruguay the first country to legalize the smoking, growing and selling of marijuana nationwide. U.S. banks, including their correspondent banks abroad, are therefore banned from dealing in proceeds from the sales or finance of the marijuana business.

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In 2011 the 1961 UN Single Convention on drugs will be in place for 50 years. In 2012 the international drug control system will exist 100 years since the International Opium Convention was signed in 1912 in The Hague. Does it still serve its purpose or is a reform of the UN Drug Conventions needed? This site provides critical background.